Austintown mom charged after child found wandering in Target parking lot

BOARDMAN

An Austintown woman faces charges of endangering children after police accused her of leaving her two young kids in the car in freezing weather while she shopped at Target.

Charged with two misdemeanor counts is Jonnise Collins, 25, of Compass West Drive.

The charges stem from an incident reported Wednesday night by someone who saw a young child wandering alone in the parking lot of the Target store on U.S. Route 224.

The person brought the child into the store to get warm. When township police arrived, the little girl told them she was 4 years old and identified her mother’s car for them.

“When we looked inside the SUV, we discovered another very young male child in a car seat inside the vehicle. The vehicle was unlocked and not running,” police said in a report.

Police found Collins in a checkout line with three other children, and later arrested and booked her on the charges.

Reached by The Vindicator for comment Thursday, Collins said she left the two children in the car because they were asleep and she did not want to take them out into the cold.

Police reported at the time it was 18 degrees but felt like 5 degrees due to the wind-chill factor.

Collins acknowledged she made a “bad decision” and asserted that she’s a good mother. She said she is a single mom and that she works and spends the rest of her time caring for her children.

Read more about the case in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.